Nepal Happenings

This past week many people in Nepal celebrated the Hindu festival of Janai Purnima.

Parts of India celebrate this festival under the name Raksha Bandhan.

Here's something you can see during this festival:

Now, I have twice done posts about this and I'm going to repost them today

for those of you who missed them.  

I posted this post after our first Janai Purnima:

http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/2010/08/festivals.html

Spoiler photo:

I used this picture because you'll find a cute conversation about festivals
that I had with some of the children!

Two years later, I posted about Janai Purnima again,
when I was able to go to the festival site.

http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/2012/09/janai-purnima.html

Spoiler photo:



For more photos (professional ones!), and more information,
check out these newspaper stories:

http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-08-18/janai-purnima-festival-today.html
Spoiler photo:



https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/janai-purnima-observed-across-country-today/
Spoiler photo:



No photos, but interesting:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/bhaktapur-farmers-worship-frogs-mark-janai-purnima/


Here's what else happened this past week:
http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/kathmandu-marks-gaijatra-memory-dead/
Spoiler photo:


More photos here:
http://thehimalayantimes.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/gaijatra-celebrations-kathmandu/


Well, that's what's been happening here, and whatever happened in your neck of the woods,
we hope you had a wonderful week.

Thanks to all of you who are praying for Nepal, and actually for the whole world!
Man!

Have a nice day, take care, and God bless!

A Few Current Scenes

Well, here it well into July already!  Boy!  Time is flying by!

So...here's hoping everyone had a ...

(photo credit:  pinterest.com)

If we were home, we would have been at my family reunion!  Happy day!
However, I'm happy that I was able to video chat!

I love it!  We didn't even dream of this in the '80s when my parents were in Africa.
Maybe those who did dream of this had relatives living far away!  Anyway--THANKS!
How we would have loved it then like we love it now!
Letters took two weeks, if we were lucky, and phoning in those days was so expensive that
we mostly only phoned when there was bad news.  Yikes!

By the way, letters and packages usually take two weeks to get here too--most of the time!

Anyway, it's now the monsoon season.

This was a rather light rain.  It can become torrential!  It was so bad a few weeks ago
that crops were tragically destroyed.
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/banepa-downpour-destroys-crops-worth-millions/


One of Ramon's patients, a very elderly man, told him that he couldn't remember such a storm
since he was a boy!
I admit that it was a little scary and we prayed!

The past three months have been difficult:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/47-killed-floods-landslides-across-nepal-3-months/

Look:

Man!  These two pictures are from this article which I give the credit to:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/58-rescued-flood-hit-tatopani-bordering-tibet/

Here's the road to the church:

Yep, flats are the way to go!
I'm very happy to say that the cars and motorcycles wait for you to pass so they don't splash you!

This is on the outskirts of town,

and thankfully they're working on it,as there are potholes in the potholes of the potholes!  (Not kidding!)

It's also HOT and HUMID!  Of course, that's to be expected.
Everyone stays in the shade as much as possible,

unless they have to work outside--and they work hard, all day long, day after day,
week after week, month after month, year after year!

I was happy to find these ladies who were able to work while sitting down--at least for awhile!
They were very happy for me to take their picture!

Now we haven't heard that fuel is in low supply again, but we have seen very long lines at the
fuel stations again, like we did during the crisis.  This is only a small part of a very long line and we have recently seen very long lines.  Let's hope everyone just accidentally had to get fuel at the same time!


Sometimes I wonder why I took a certain picture--like this one.  Perhaps I was
wondering if Deep Stationary was selling nice and thick notebooks! 

Look!  Here's a truck driver who is a fan of the Titanic movie! 
Do you think Leonardo, Kate, and James know they have a big fan in Kathmandu?

It looks nice!
I have seen Che, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, and others many times on the trucks
and buses, and have put some pictures up before.  This was the first time I've seen scenes from a movie!

Well, I'll end for now with two pics from school.  The other day I found some of the third graders
relaxing by their door after recess while waiting for their teacher to show.  I told them I liked
how calm, cool, and collected they were!

Then I found the fourth graders at study.  They are as sweet and nice as they look!

More later!  I hope I'll have pictures from Ramon.  He's been so busy and hasn't even
taken any pictures since we've been back.

Have a nice day and thanks for your prayers!

Chandeswori Jatra

Hi!  Hope you're having a fun and blessed month of May.  May is the month of an interesting Hindu festival here in Banepa, called Chaneswori Jatra, so I'm going to repost about it in this post and do Part 2 of "Eating Our in Kathmandu" later.  I hope you don't mind that I'm reposting, but it's the same every year!  I didn't post about it last year, so it's time to show you again what happens.  The post I'm going to link to is from 2012, and it actually has a little video as well as links to the Chandeswori Jatra from 2011!   

Things to note--this May we thankfully have not had the road strikes, called bandhs, that are mentioned in those past posts.  This is very good news!  Also, in the May 21, 2011 post, I say that I didn't know what the flying flags are.  Now I know!  They are part of the "Buddha Purnima" celebrations that take place on the middle day of Chandeswori Jatra!  It's the birthday celebration for Buddha.

OK, if you missed these past posts, I hope you enjoy seeing what happens around here in May!  Here's the link from 2012:  http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html   

I'm going to close with a picture and video I took the other night during the Jatra (procession).  I haven't figured out how to take good night pictures yet, (sorry--don't like reading manuals!) but you can have an idea of what the dancers and the band in the picture looked like and hear what they sounded like in the video, although you can't see anything! Enjoy and have a nice day!  More later!

When We're Out & About--Part 1

Some of you have wondered what we see when we're out and about, so that's what this post is going to show you.  On Wednesdays, we have "Town Day," which is when we go shopping in Kathmandu and today you get to go along for the ride!  (Of course, sometimes Ramon doesn't get to go because he's too busy, but sometimes he can--yeah!)

We ride in the hospital's van with a driver,

who I'm very thankful for, as nothing could persuade me to drive here!
Of course, now that I've been here for 3 1/2 years, it doesn't seem so hectic to me anymore!
(When I first went to Paraguay, I was afraid of the traffic.
Now when I'm there, it seems very mild to me!)

This is a two-way street!

...and so is this.

Here we have four rows of vehicles in two lanes--plus motorcycles here and there...


...and everywhere!

Recently as we left the hospital, we passed this young lady eating her breakfast right outside the gate.  (Our apartment is right behind the big round tree.)

We pass through Banepa, which is sometimes crowded,

and sometimes not so crowded.

One can enjoy the colorful shops along the way,

and then we head west to Kathmandu.  It's a pretty ride, filled with these scenes.

Here is a terraced hill we pass as it looks on a cloudy day.

On a sunny day, (this is the same place as above)
you can get a nice peek at the mighty and beautiful Himalayas!

Let's have a closer look!

I have to tell you that we never get tired of seeing this!

If you lived here, you'd have this view every sunny day!

 
Often we see people working outside in the warm sunshine and good sunlight...

...and if it's a holiday, as it was on this day, the children will be happily playing.

However, some "folks" just like to sit around and enjoy the views

while watching others work!

Notice this fellow has bare legs and flip flops (no socks) in our cold winter air.

This gentleman with another heavy load has trousers on, but again, no socks.

We always see people washing up outside at springs or wells,

(Sorry this one is blurry.)

and people worshiping, which you can see that this lady is about to do.

At almost any place on any road, you can see people tending their shops.

Everywhere you go you see people walking!  

Here are some adorable school children.  Yes, they have learned nicely how to walk on a highway!

This lady was walking so fast (no socks either) up hill no less, that she is blurred!

These ladies are going home with their firewood.

Eventually, 17 miles and about an hour later, we roll into Kathmandu.

Stay tuned for Part 2, which will show you what we see and do in Kathmandu!
Take care and God bless!